Raiderettes to Get Paid $9 an Hour, Earning Minimum Wage for First Time

NBC Bay Area | Jul 6

When the Oakland Raiderettes begin their cheerleading season this summer, “Football’s Fabulous Females” will be paid California's minimum wage, for the first time in team history, for the time they spend practicing, visiting sick children and posing for the annual team calendar.

That translates to about $3,000 a season, or $9 an hour.

In previous years, in addition to twirling and kicking during Raiders' games at the Oakland Coliseum, Raiderettes were required to show up three hours before each home game, attend 10 charity events a year, pose for photo shoots, and attend parties, drills and three rehearsals a week.

All of that work went unpaid, until now.

The cheerleaders' new hourly salary, quietly divulged by the Raiders this month, might not seem like much. Especially because the trained dancers are being paid by the National Football League, which is valued at $10 billion.

The Raiders announced the salary on audition fliers that have since been taken down from the website. Two cheerleaders and two attorneys confirmed that they saw the new salary amount.